It's Haruhi and the twins' senior year at Ouran and Kaoru is desperate to keep his perfect world from falling apart, even if it means sacrificing his own happiness. Can he truly live without love or will he choose the alternative? KaoHaru

Disclaimer:
If anyone were to confuse me with Bisco Hatori then something must be
wrong. I don't think I look much like BONES production company
either... (i.e. Not mine)

Reason:
Because I've had this one in my mind for quite a while. Hope you all
like this story, despite its unpopular pairing. For those of you who
are eccentrics like me and think HaruhixKaoru could happen, this is
my shout out to you!

Problems:
This may be a bit OOC. I like to keep as close to the original
characters as I can when I write fanfics but sometimes OOCness can't
be avoided. I'm introducing some original characters too (hence the
title) so they may be a bit under-developed--I'll remedy that in
later chapters.

Notes:
My knowledge of Ouran up to this point consists of the anime's season
1 and up to volume 7 in the manga. This story begins near the end of
Hikaru, Kaoru and Haruhi's senior year at Ouran Academy. This means
Honey, Mori, Kyouya and Tamaki are all now alumni but they are
still going to be characters--just not constant characters!
Constructive criticism is appreciated. Flames will be stoically
ignored. Believe me when I say I'm fire-proof. Either way, I hope
you all enjoy this fic.

The
Broke Path

Prologue

Another
Pack of Cards

"We were strikin' matches just to watch 'em burn..."

Kenny Chesney, Young

"Ha-ruhi!"
cried the twins as they assaulted their female, cross-dressing
classmate.

Their
arms holding her tightly between them, Fujioka Haruhi no longer
struggled to disentangle herself as she may have once had. The
Hitachiin brothers had greeted her in this fashion for years now and
she had learned to deal with it. It was the days when they didn't
sling their arms around her neck that she worried.

"You
two," muttered Haruhi but where annoyance would have once
threaded her voice there was now a gentle fondness. "Will you
ever change?"

"Never!"
they intoned, grins plastered across their cat-like faces.

"Hikaru,
Kaoru, stop wasting time," sighed the Host Club's Vice-President
as he strolled up to the clump of seniors, his pen poised over an
ominous black notepad.

Pen
still in hand, the boy reached up and pulled his thin-rimmed glasses
down, gazing over at the group with a slightly impatient stare.
However, his light brown eyes held a secret amusement deep within
them as though he were harboring some inner joke deep inside.

"You
wouldn't want me to call Onii-chan and tell him of your lack
of club initiative, would you?"

"Don't
be threatening us with Kyouya-sempai, Reiji," droned the twins.

"He
doesn't care what we do...," began Hikaru.

"...as
long as we don't bankrupt the club," finished Kaoru.

"Then
maybe I should give Suou-sempai a call. He would be ever so
delighted to know you two are as unscrupulous as usual."

The
junior's voice no longer held any sense of humor. The twins only
smiled at his efforts and Haruhi sighed, wondering why the kid even
tried to be as intimidating as Kyouya-sempai.

"Tono
is 'roughing it' in the mountains right now with Mori-sempai and
Honey-sempai, trying to get in touch with his inner Buddha,"
said Kaoru in way of explanation for their lack of fear, though they
wouldn't have been afraid of Tamaki either way. "He won't have
any cell phone service for a while."

Reiji
looked as though he was going to shoot out a barbed retort but the
sound of the door opening behind them silenced him.

"Sorry
I'm late," sighed the bored voice of the red-head who entered,
his eyes closed lazily. "I was jus-MAH!"

The boy
quickly turned and slammed the door shut behind him, scrambling to
get it locked. Once the door was firmly bolted the yakuza-style
Senior marched over to the rest of the hosts, locking his blazing
eyes onto the friendly trio.

"Hitachiins,
what are you doing?" demanded Kasanoda spearing them both with
his gaze. "F-fujioka cannot let her secret be made known! How
can we hide her true self if you two do these things when the door
isn't even locked?"

"Baka!
If you came on time we wouldn't have left the door unlocked for
everyone to worry about!" snapped back Hikaru, who was never one
to accept the blame for anything.

"Hikaru!"
growled the yakuza heir, his eyes white-hot with anger as he rounded
on the older Hitachiin.

Both
boys locked angry glares and Haruhi stiffened, her eyes wide as she
saw two of her friends bare their teeth at one another. Before she
could say anything to smooth things over she felt Kaoru's arm leave
her and reach out to the other boys. All eyes turned to him in
surprise. A small, apologetic smile crossed the younger twin's lips
as he placed a soothing hand on Kasanoda's shoulder, relieving some
of the D-class senior's anger.

"Gomen-nasai,
Kasanoda-kun," voiced Kaoru softly. "You're right. We
should be more careful when it comes to Haruhi. It wouldn't be good
for any of us if her identity were exposed."

"Kaoru!"
gasped Hikaru looking ticked that his brother had sided with
Kasanoda.

"It's
true, Hikaru," insisted Kaoru simply as he turned back to his
brother. "We should be more careful from now on. Graduation is
only in a few months but that's no reason for us to let our guard
down. Reiji is right also--no more goofing off."

"K-k-kaoru-sempai!"
gasped Reiji his young face lighting up.

Kaoru
gave him a grin.

"Okay
everyone," Kaoru began as he turned to face them all, "our
guests will be arriving soon so I need you all to work double-time
today. Hikaru, Haruhi, get our costumes ready. Bossa-nova-kun,
ready the tea sets. Hop to it!"

Kasanoda,
calmed by Kaoru's sensitive demeanor, set to work without a word.
Hikaru had a stubborn look on his face but Haruhi pulled him along
with her to gather up their costumes. She had a smile on her face.

She
enjoys the club now, thought Kaoru as he gazed after them both
fondly. After all the crap we've put her through she really likes
the Host Club... or, at least it isn't just an unpleasant way to pay
off a debt.

He
chuckled and turned his attention to the younger boy next to him. He
frowned, suddenly realizing one of their number was absent.

"Hey,
where's Shiro?"

"Oh!
About that..."

Reiji
scrambled through his notes frantically and the younger Hitachiin
wondered how he'd ever get over the fact that Kyouya had chosen this
commoner to be the next Host Club VP.

"Ah,
yes!" exclaimed Reiji with only a hint of relief in his voice.
"Shiro called and informed me that he would miss the first hour
of club today due to a make-up test for the day he was ill."

"Well,
that's not good," muttered Kaoru as he raked his brain for a
possible solution to being down one host. "Let's see, we'll...
offer his customers advance tickets to our dinner party next month."

"Great
idea!" praised the junior as he made a note of the decision.
"I'll make sure they get seats next to his place at the piano."

Kaoru
smiled after him before moving to help Kasanoda set up the area. The
work of the Ouran High School Host Club President was never done.

To
be continued...

Author's
Notes: This chapter... yeah, I basically hated it. I just
needed to get the characters and some of the newer info in first but
I couldn't figure out an interesting way to do it. Sorry all. --;;
It will be better for chapter 1, believe me.

Anyway,
what do you all think of the new character Reiji and having Kasanoda
and Shiro in the Host Club? I'll get to why later--I'm not
terrible enough just to throw in random characters without reason.
Still, any feedback you can provide on first impressions are good.
Oh, and Reiji isn't in any way related to Kyouya. In Japan many
younger kids often refer to older kids they look up to as Onii-chan
and Onee-chan (big brother and big sister) but this is often
seen more in young children.

And what
about Kaoru as the Host Club's President? ;; I know, he and Haruhi
are the main characters in this fic but that's not why I chose him
for that position. He's the only one who can really fill it when you
see my cast, though. Hikaru is too hot-headed for the position,
Haruhi, though she likes the club now, would push her Club duties
behind her and all the others are too new to the Club or hold
different positions. That's my opinion anyway...

As for
italics, I only italicized full Japanese words this time and left the
honorifics alone. I think I'll continue to do that too...

So, yeah,
reviews and constructive criticisms are very much welcome. Bring
it on!

The author would like to thank you for your continued support. Your review has been posted.